Esther McQueen
Esther McQueen was a Havenite citizen and a prominent officer in the People's Navy as well as Secretary of War in the Committee of Public Safety under Robert Pierre. Biography Early career A native of the People's Republic of Haven and an officer of the Havenite Navy, Vice Admiral Esther McQueen first stepped into the light in 1907 PD, when she commanded Task Force 30 in one of the attacks meant to divert the native forces from Yeltsin's Star, under Vice Admiral Alexander Thurston's "Operation Stalking Horse"/"Operation Dagger" combination of offensives, which had Grayson as their primary target. Even at this time, she was considered one of the "rising stars" of the People's Navy, soon after rising to the command of the Trevor's Star System, which was the primary target of the Manticoran Alliance's offensive operations. ( ) Command of Trevor's Star In this position, McQueen outperformed all expectations, earning grudging praise even from Manticoran officers. Realizing that her abilities were too critical for the war effort, the Committee of Public Safety recalled her to Haven when it became clear that Trevor's Star would fall, in order not to have to shoot her for failure. Admiral Girardi was sacrificed in her place. ( ) Secretary of War Shortly afterward, during the Leveler Uprising, she moved to defend the endangered Committee, using both orbital kinetic missile strikes from her flagship, the [[PNS Rousseau|PNS Rousseau]], and low-altitude Snowflake cluster bombing against the attackers, earning her the nickname "Admiral Cluster Bomb". Her decisive leadership and ability to inspire personal loyalty were all that saved the Committee, yet they frightened Pierre and Saint-Just, despite their recognition of the need for her expertise at the Octagon. ( ) The Committee decided to recognize her accomplishments by appointing her to the position of Secretary of War, replacing Secretary Kline. McQueen was the only Havenite strategist to create a successful offensive plan against the Alliance during the First Havenite War (Operation Icarus), which consisted of a daring series of punishing raids upon highly visible targets, thereby forcing the Alliance to redeploy its strength for defensive purposes. ( ) Rebellion Due largely to her successful record as Secretary of War, Oscar Saint-Just, concerned about her political ambitions, decided to lay the necessary groundwork to "prove" her disloyalty to a People's Court, a fact that was brought to the Admiral's attention by Sean and Kevin Caminetti. Wrongly believing that she was about to be eliminatedSaint-Just was merely starting to set up his "evidence"., McQueen acted first: leading Navy and Marine Corps forces on the planet, she launched her own coup against the Committee, in the process accidentally killing Chairman Pierre, whom she wanted to take hostage. The rushed nature of her plans forced her to attack Saint-Just in StateSec Headquarters; the combination of his highly trained guard detail and readily available reinforcements defeated her Marine troops. A major reason that the McQueen Coup did not succeed immediately was that Admiral Amanda Graveson, in command of Haven's Capital Fleet, drew back from McQueen's plans, presumably due to pre-emptive action on the part of StateSec's capital ships in orbit. Despite this, the majority of ground forces on Haven gradually declared for McQueen, and Saint-Just began losing ground in the streets of Nouveau Paris. When it became obvious that McQueen's coup would be successful, Saint-Just had General Rachel Speer remotely activate a nuclear bomb concealed beneath the Octagon, killing McQueen and her fellow rebels along with 1.3 million innocent civilians in adjacent towers. McQueen is considered by many to be analogous to Napoleon Bonaparte. However, her similarity to him ended when she was killed, as in reality Napoleon succeeded in his coup. ( , ) Service Record Promotions * Vice-Admiral * Admiral Posts and duties * Commanding Officer, Task Force 30 * Commanding Officer, Trevor's Star System Defense * Commanding Officer, security action during the Leveler Uprising References McQueen, Esther McQueen, Esther McQueen, Esther McQueen, Esther McQueen, Esther McQueen, Esther McQueen, Esther